The Likud leadership is considering whether to appoint a new Minister to replace Yitzhak Modai who resigned as Minister of Justice Monday, just hours before Premier Shimon Peres planned to fire him. Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir made clear that Likud would not leave the key portfolio untended, meaning in the temporary care of the Prime Minister. There are differences within Likud over whether to name a new minister or assign the vacant post to Shamir.
Labor Party circles have protested against the notion that Shamir hold the Justice portfolio at a time when he may be subject to police interrogation in connection with the investigation of the Shin Bet affair. If Likud decides to appoint a new minister, the likely candidates are Sarah Doron and Pessach Grupper, both Likud Liberals who served in the last Likud government.
Likud insists that Modai will be reinstalled as Justice Minister as soon as Shamir takes over as Prime Minister under the Labor-Likud rotation of power agreement next October. But Laborites say Modai’s resignation is effective for the full term of the national unity government. They say they will not support a Shamir administration if Modai is part of it.
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